Exploring offshore innovation – Q&A with Erik-Jan de Ridder

From the magazine – Within an ecosystem of experimentation and innovation, Erik-Jan de Ridder, Team Leader of the Renewable Energy Team (RENT), leads the translation of MARIN’s maritime expertise into the offshore renewable energy sector. In this interview, he discusses how MARIN’s independent research and advanced facilities are shaping the future of offshore wind.

This interview originally appeared in SWZ|Maritime’s November 2025 offshore special. Interviewers are Hengameh Farahpour, PhD, Product Development Engineer at Bluewater Energy Services and one of SWZ|Maritime’s editors, hengameh.farahpour@bluewater.com, and Lida Vakili, MBA, PhD, Procurement Specialist at Bluewater Energy Services, lida.vakili@bluewater.com. In addition to De Ridder, they also interviewed Robert Eikelenboom, Director of Offshore Wind at Eneco and Sander des Tombe, Public and Regulatory Affairs Specialist at DMEC. Subscribers can read the issue online. Not yet a subscriber? Subscribe today.

Founded in 1932 and headquartered in Wageningen, the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN) stands at the forefront of global hydrodynamic and offshore research. Inside its vast testing halls, the Offshore Basin, a 45-by-36-metre tank with a 10-metre depth and an additional 20-metre-deep pit, allows researchers to simulate operations in water depths approaching 3000 metres, testing everything from floating wind turbines to deep-sea mooring systems.

The Depressurised Wave Basin, measuring 224 metres in length, enables the study of cavitation and air-water interactions under reduced pressures, while the Seakeeping and Manoeuvring Basin, spanning 170 by 40 metres, reproduces complex vessel motions and installation scenarios in scaled storm conditions.

Across these facilities, MARIN integrates precision wave and current generators, six-degree-of-freedom motion tracking, and wind systems capable of replicating the turbulent boundary layers of the open sea. These physical test environments are complemented by digital twins, computational fluid dynamics, and full-mission bridge simulators that bring engineering concepts to life before they ever reach the ocean.

Could you start by introducing yourself and sharing your professional journey and current role at MARIN?

I joined MARIN in 2004 after completing studies in shipbuilding and maritime technology in Delft. Initially, I worked on high-performance sailing vessels, including projects for the Volvo Ocean Race and the America’s Cup.

Around 2010, my focus shifted from shipbuilding and yachts to offshore engineering, and I began leading MARIN’s renewable energy team. Our team applies MARIN’s expertise, developed since 1932, to renewable offshore energy. This includes not only energy production through wave, tidal, and offshore wind technologies, but also the vessels and infrastructure required for installation, maintenance, and eventual decommissioning. Our scope encompasses both fixed-bottom and floating offshore wind.

Also read: VIDEO: How MARIN tests SolarDuck’s floating solar panels

MARIN is known for its work in testing and verification. Could you explain how this applies to offshore wind installations and mooring systems?

For fixed-bottom offshore wind, installation is typically carried out using jack-ups or floating installation vessels. When a contractor designs a new vessel, MARIN performs model tests and simulations to ensure compliance with design and operational criteria. We evaluate vessel workability, conduct dynamic response analyses, for instance, on monopiles that, despite being called “fixed,” behave flexibly under large top masses, and develop simulators tailored for client training and validation.

For floating wind, we model the complete integrated system: the mooring layout, the floating platform, and the wind turbine. This allows us to assess stability, hydrodynamics, and coupled motion behaviour comprehensively.

How does MARIN’s role differ from that of a typical engineering company?

MARIN operates as a non-profit research institute, providing independent assessments rather than commercial design services. We perform objective verification and validation of designs, from floating production systems (FPSOs) to novel floating wind concepts. We intentionally hold no patents to maintain independence. If we owned proprietary technologies, clients might perceive us as competitors.

Instead, we focus on open-source knowledge sharing. For example, we recently developed a reference 22-MW floating wind turbine design, conducted model tests, and made the resulting data publicly available to support the wider industry.

Could you describe MARIN’s current project portfolio in offshore renewables?

Our portfolio includes a mix of government-funded research, joint industry projects (JIPs), and commercial client work. With government support, we conduct long-term research on technologies that may become relevant in five to ten years. Through JIPs, we collaborate with multiple industry partners to develop design tools, enhance modelling accuracy, and reduce technical uncertainty. Commercially, we provide independent verification to ensure their designs meet safety, environmental, and performance criteria under extreme environmental loads, such as 10,000-year storms.

Also read: VIDEO: How MARIN studies wind propulsion’s impact on operations

How does MARIN maintain neutrality when collaborating with multiple industry partners, sometimes even competitors?

Operators, energy companies, and floater designers approach us to verify designs or optimise concepts through simulations and model testing. We provide tailored technical quotations and solutions, leveraging tools from fast frequency-domain checks to full-scale measurements and full mission bridge simulators.

For common technical challenges across multiple clients, we establish joint industry projects. An example is our current collaboration assessing generic 22-MW floating wind turbines, involving industrial partners like Japan Marine United, Hyundai, Windey, and classification societies such as Bureau Veritas. This approach allows extensive testing while maintaining independence and distributing costs across participants.

Looking ahead, what do you believe will dominate the Dutch energy mix by 2040–2050?

The Netherlands’ shallow seas, strong wind resources, and sandy seabed make fixed-bottom offshore wind highly suitable. Floating wind is less relevant domestically, we may see floating wind deployed around Dutch overseas territories like Curaçao, but it will primarily serve as an export product or for electrifying offshore oil and gas infrastructure, as seen in Norway.

How would you assess Dutch expertise in offshore wind compared to other countries, like China?

The Netherlands has a strong heritage in offshore engineering, rooted in the oil and gas sector. Companies such as Heerema, Bluewater, SBM, and GustoMSC have global recognition. This expertise translates naturally into floating wind. Our main challenge is economic competitiveness; floating wind remains relatively expensive and dependent on government support.

Local content requirements in various markets also complicate international participation. Nonetheless, the Dutch industry has a long-standing track record; MARIN conducted its first floating wind model tests as early as 2004 and our accumulated experience gives us a strong international position.

Do you believe that as investment in floating wind grows, costs will eventually decrease, similar to the fixed-bottom sector?

In principle, yes; but investment is limited by risk. Floating wind still faces significant technical uncertainties, and investors are cautious with billion-euro projects. Fixed-bottom is more mature, but still experiences challenges, such as blade failures in large turbines.

The industry’s drive toward ever-larger turbines introduces new reliability issues. When you scale up rapidly, minor design flaws can multiply across hundreds of turbines. However, this is a natural part of technological evolution, and we’re still at the early stages of large-scale deployment.

Also read: VIDEO: MARIN verifies efficiency of ABB Dynafin propulsion

What is MARIN’s perspective on the continuous growth in turbine size, now reaching 20 MW and beyond?

In the long term, larger turbines remain more cost-effective. The industry is driven by levelised cost of energy (LCOE) targets, and upscaling helps achieve those. At MARIN, we must ensure our testing and simulation tools evolve accordingly. For instance, our Offshore Basin wind machine, built in 2010, was designed for 5-MW turbines.

We now routinely test 15-MW designs, and we’ve recently developed a new 7×7-metre wind setup, doubling our testing capability to handle rotors up to 6 metres in diameter representing 25-MW turbines at scale.

We’re also leading a joint industry project developing a generic 22-MW floating turbine model. This will enable validation of numerical simulations for fatigue loads, mooring dynamics, and structural behaviour, key to reducing technical risk and improving reliability.

How can private sector partners collaborate with MARIN on such projects?

Typically, an operator, operation and maintenance provider, or floater designer approaches us with a concept or engineering question. We then prepare a customised proposal ranging from full-scale measurements and model testing to fast-response simulations or frequency-domain analyses. Our work supports all stages of project development: concept, pre-FEED (front-end engineering design), and FEED.

Does MARIN ever approach the industry to initiate projects or challenges?

We don’t directly approach companies to commercialise concepts, but we do identify common technical challenges and initiate joint industry projects around them. For example, our current SCALEWIND JIP brings together companies like Japan Marine United Corporation, Hyundai, Windey (China), Bureau Veritas, and others. By pooling resources, we can perform extensive tests that would be prohibitively expensive for a single company, while sharing the results to improve industrywide uderstanding.

What would you encourage pivate-sector players to focus on?

Collaboration! In floating wind, many companies are competing for their share of the market, but the industry first needs to ensure there is a viable market. Greater cooperation at least on a European scale could accelerate development and de-risk investments.

And what about governments and policymakers? Is current financial and regulatory support sufficient?

MARIN isn’t directly involved in economic policy, but government support through mechanisms such as contracts for difference (CfDs) and innovation programmes like SDE++ and HER+ has been crucial in driving innovation in the Netherlands.

This funding allows institutions like MARIN to advance technology and maintain the Netherlands’ role as a global knowledge hub. We may not be manufacturing floaters domestically, but we can export our expertise worldwide.

How do you view the role of artificial intelligence and digital twins in the offshore sector?

AI has potential, but it must still prove itself in offshore applications. It can certainly aid in design optimisation, predictive modelling, and operational planning, but the industry is understandably conservative. Offshore operations are high-risk and costly, so new tools must demonstrate reliability before adoption.

At MARIN, we explore AI-assisted simulation and data analytics, but always in complement to, not replacement of, our proven physical modelling and engineering methods.

If you could change one thing overnight in the offshore wind sector, what would it be?

I would increase the market value of renewable electricity to strengthen business models. Technically, most challenges are solvable, the real bottleneck lies in economic value and market mechanisms that recognise the true benefit of clean energy.

During periods of strong wind and abundant solar production, power prices may drop to zero or even negative. Yet, turbines must keep running to avoid structural fatigue issues. We need better market mechanisms that reflect the real value of clean electricity compared to fossil sources.

Finally, what message would you like to share with our readers?

Offshore wind has already achieved remarkable success, but the journey isn’t complete. Continued collaboration among research institutes, industry, and government will be essential to make offshore wind, both fixed and floating, a long-term, sustainable pillar of the global energy transition.

Also read: VIDEO: MARIN trials offshore floating PV prototype

One last question. I also interviewed the private sector. How do you think your perspective differs from theirs?

I suspect they look primarily at the bottom line whether a project makes or loses money. From the research side, we certainly understand that financial viability is crucial, but our focus is on enabling those projects to succeed technically, safely, and sustainably within that economic framework.